TEACHERS WANT KING’S PRIVATE JET SOLD

MANZINI – Teachers have suggested that the private jet belonging to His Majesty King Mswati III should be sold and the money be used to cater for civil servants’ salaries.

This suggestion formed part of a petition that the teachers delivered on Thursday at the United States of America (USA) Embassy at Ezulwini. The petition was addressed to the Ambassador of the USA to the Kingdom of Eswatini, Lisa Peterson.

It is well documented that for two consecutive years, civil servants have been offered zero per cent payrise because government claimed to be broke.

delegation

The teachers, in particular those organised under the banner of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), also suggested that government should consider cutting the huge and unnecessary delegation that normally travels abroad with the King.

Through their petition, the teachers requested the ambassador to ask the USA government to engage members of the Royal Family, particularly the King to consider cutting down on the huge and unnecessary delegation that normally travels with him abroad.

Their argument was that the money that caters for the huge delegation’s allowances could be used to pay civil servants, including teachers. “The King may as well sell his private jet to fund civil servants’ salaries, including that of teachers,” reads part of the petition which was addressed to the ambassador.

When explaining this point, SNAT President Freedom Dlamini said they believed that most of the things were happening because the King could be fed with wrong information. He said it was for that reason that they decided to approach the ambassador and her government to pass their message.
“We believe the King has logic and our welfare is in his hands. We believe that things turned out this way because he was given the wrong information by those surrounding him,” he said.

petition

On that note, the teachers, thr- ough their union, requested the office of the ambassador to communicate these issues to the USA government immediately after the petition was delivered. They added that knowing the humanitarian nature of the USA government and her office, they trust that their requests would be addressed to their satisfaction.

Furthermore, the teachers high- lighted that civil servants in the Kingdom of Eswatini had not received a cost of living adjustment (CoLA) to their salaries for the past two years. They said last year (2017), the inflation rate was 7.85 per cent, while this year, their CoLA demand stands at 6.55 per cent.
“This effectively means that the salaries for civil servants have been reduced by 14.4 per cent,” reads part of the petition.

They further added that their engagements with government at the negotiations table had never yielded any positive results. It is worth noting that in their various meetings at the round table, the government negotiation team (GNT), which represents government, maintained the zero per cent offer for the past two years.

splashing

On that other hand, the teachers said they had been noting that government had been allegedly splashing out a lot of money.
They said it allegedly funded vanity capital projects, such as the construction of the International Convention Centre. “It also funded activities such as the 50/50 golden jubilee celebrations,” reads part of the petition.

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